Playground

Writer-director Laura Wandel’s extraordinary debut has won multiple awards including the Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. Anxious seven-year-old Nora (Vanderbeque) must go back to school despite longing to stay with her dad (Leklou). But although Nora’s the one who purportedly needs looking after, she soon becomes responsible for her older brother, Abel (Duret), who’s being bullied by the other kids. Intimately immersing you in the lives of its brilliantly naturalistic young performers over its brief 72-minute runtime, this is bold, lucid and gripping calling card for Wandel.